Four years have passed since the last edition (3rd) of this book was published. In the
intervening years several reviews of this book have provided highly encouraging remarks about
the value of this book in transmitting information on classification and treatment of
psychiatric disorders to the audience. We are proposing to revise all chapters with an eye on
accuracy and ease of use and this is an especially timely endeavor with the upcoming
publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V. All the appropriate new information on
biology etiology diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders will be added to the
current proposed edition. It is our goal to recruit the same authors (if possible) who
contributed to the previous edition. While all chapters will be updated (see TOC) those marked
by asterisks will be the most likely to undergo more revision. Psychiatry has emerged as a
burgeoning scientific field with major advances in etiology and treatment of several disorders.
Just as there was excitement in the anatomic advances that took place a hundred years ago when
Emil Kraepelin and his collaborators took on the enormous task of classification of psychiatric
disorders based on rational scientific thinking new advances in genetics biochemistry
neuroanatomy and pharmacotherapy of mental disorders have brought us even closer to a better
understanding of complex disorders like schizophrenia bipolar disorder depression and even
autism. The major goal of the previous edition of this classic book was to update the busy
clinician psychiatric resident and medical student with the most up-to-date information on
etiology diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders. This goal remains the focus of the
fourth edition of this book. In this updated and expanded edition the reader will be provided
with the most contemporary information and literature supported by a close survey of the field.
This new edition of this classic title with its focus on biologic and medical aspects of
psychiatry will continue to be of significant help to all interested in the scientific
practice of psychiatry.
